Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi

We decided to purchase this cookbook after attending a dinner party where we were fed a couple of recipes from it, specifically, the Caramelized Garlic Tart and the Stuffed Portobellos with Melting Taleggio. The dinner was so sinfully delicious, we just had to get our hands on it – I ordered the book the very next day.

We have not been let down. This is not a cookbook for beginners or for every day. Most of the recipes are fairly involved and time-consuming, and many of them are also extremely exact in terms of measurements, etc. They are also not necessarily the healthiest of dishes, in terms of caloric intake, but are great once in a while or special occasion foods.

That said, every one of the recipes we’ve tried from this book, show more without fail, has been a masterpiece. The Rattatouille is about the most mouth-watering thing you could ever create from a pot full of vegetables. According to Irma Rombauer, “a well-made soufflé is the triumph of egg cooking”, and after making Ottolenghi’s Halloween Soufflés, I can consider myself a master: they came out light as air and absolutely delicious. We served his Crusted Pumpkin Wedges on Thanksgiving, and other friends were clamoring for the name of the book. And of course, we still serve the Caramelized Garlic Tart as a go-to for dinner parties – it’s to die for.

A great special occasion vegetarian cookbook, probably the current favorite in our kitchen. show less

The number one thing I noticed about Plenty is the sense of joy that pervades the entire book. Every couple of pages, I kept turning back to the picture of some sort of uncooked greens on the title page, because the picture was so beautiful and just made me so happy (I'm a sucker for photographs of green plants). There's just such a sense that food is meant to be enjoyed with all the senses, that beautiful, good-tasting foods provide a sustenance beyond mere nourishment, that makes this such a brilliant cookbook.

Plenty went on my Wishlist, because it is just that good, and I'm picky about cookbooks, so that's saying something. I guess I should also note that it's a vegetarian cookbook. I'm not vegetarian, and neither is Ottolenghi, but show more I really think if I were vegetarian I would have gone online and ordered the cookbook the minute I got done reading it. It's seriously that good. show less

As so often occurs — especially with cookbooks — how much you’ll appreciate Israeli-born and London-based celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook Plenty depends on who you are. Serious foodies eager to try vegetarian and vegan dishes will thrill at the intricately crafted dishes with exotic ingredients like Taleggio cheese, quail eggs, duck eggs, tamarind pulp, truffle oil, preserved lemon, grapeseed oil, ground dried Persian lime, the Middle Eastern grain called freekeh, kaffir lime leaves — well, you get the idea. For serious foodies, this book is a five-star find!

Incipient vegetarians will also love this cookbook. Every single recipe is vegetarian, and many are vegan. Too many are billed as appetizers (“starters” in show more Brit-speak), but most of those could be stretched into a nice dinner. The variety of vegetable-based dishes will astound the reader, many with a Middle Eastern flair.

While foodies and vegetarians may love this book, Midwestern soccer moms — short on time and access to exotic ingredients — not so much.

Still, even for cooks whose idea of exoticism runs more towards tabbouleh, coq au vin, from-scratch burritos, or tres leches cake that starts with a cake-mix box, there are about one or two dozen gems in Plenty — definitely worth the price if you can get the cookbook in the Kindle format for $3.99 on sale, as I did. Otherwise, check the book out of the library and copy down the dozen recipes that you can adapt and actually use. show less

Ottolenghi does a superb job of conveying the essentials of 'cooking from scratch' in every aspect of the recipes. The illustrations are excellent additions to augment the directions. Some recipes are overly complex for everyday go-to favourites (in my life, we aim for practical). However, most provide ideas to prompt creative ways to use a very wide variety of vegetables.

I am not vegetarian but if you think vegetarian food is boring then you are very, very wrong. Ottolenghi does those extremely well. My favorite book of his is "Jerusalem" (not vegetarian!), but this is great if you're looking for new ways to make veggies delicious. Especially if you live in the Middle East where all those ingredients are cheap and available.

This is the vegetarian book for non vegetarians. Ottolenghi says he is not a vegetarian so he provides succulent, fulfiling meals for those of us who eat meat. The book is interesting as it s a good read if you never cook a recipe from it, but the photographs have you salivating and wanting to start cooking - now! Interestingly if you have a reasonable spice cupboard there is not a lot to purchase and there are very few exotic vegetables that you can't purchase at your local supermarket. - his shakshuka , p 87 is stunning and athough I didn't have cilentro the meal was smashing and enough for lunch the next day with labneh (instead of eggs). I just can't believe how well all his recipes turn out. He is very accommodating and encouraging show more in that he always suggests alternatives to the ingredients he lists. Each recipe has a short paragraph discussing either ingredients or where the recipe came from. A must have for any cook. show less

Zo'n 20 recepten uit Plenty gekookt, en allemaal lekker! (Nou, bijna allemaal)
Nadeel: voor de meeste recepten zijn vrij veel handelingen nodig. Dat vergt goed lezen en rust.
Voordeel: de recepten zijn heel robuust en als er wat misgaat is het nóg lekker.
De smaken zijn altijd onverwacht. Vol, maar subtiel; flink, maar fris; hartig, maar met zoet accent.
Uit dit kookboek blijf ik nog heel lang koken.